Arnaud Demare claimed his second stage win of this year's Giro d'Italia with a clear victory on Thursday to take the Maglia Ciclamino off Peter Sagan.
The Groupama-FDJ rider launched his attack around 100m from the line and had the legs to comfortably finish ahead of Michael Matthews in second and Fabio Felline in third.
Bora-Hansgrohe's Sagan was swamped on the inside and finished down in eighth on stage six as his wait for a victory goes on.
Demare, who held off Sagan and Davide Ballerini to win stage four in a photo finish, admits he took a risk as he waited for the perfect moment to time his sprint finish.
"This is amazing. It was an incredibly hard finish," Demare said post-race. "I launched the sprint and can't believe I won it. I said if I won the first one, there'd be more.
"We tried and now we've shaken off the pressure. It was risky and I didn't think there'd be a chance for a sprint and that Bora would control the race.
"At 200m I said, ‘I'm going to go for it’, and it worked out. Thanks to the team who trusted me and lead me."
There was no change in terms of the overall race leader at the end of the 188km journey from Castrovillari to Matera, with Joao Almeida keeping hold of his Maglia Rosa.
Almeida crashed with 36km to go and veered into the road, but the bunch soon eased up and the Deceuninck-Quick-Step rider made up some ground.
The Portuguese holds a 43-second lead over Bahrain-McLaren's Pello Bilbao in the general classification, while Wilco Kelderman is a further five seconds back.
STAGE RESULT
1. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) 04:54:38
2. Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) same time
3. Fabio Felline (Astana) same time
4. Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (UAE Team Emirates) same time
5. Davide Cimolai (Start-Up Nation) same time
CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS
General Classification
1. Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 22:01:01
2. Pelle Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) +00:43
3. Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) +00:48
Points Classification
1. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) 106
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 67
3. Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) 55
King of the Mountains
1. Filippo Ganna (Team INEOS) 41
2. Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) 40
3. Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling) 19
WHAT'S NEXT?
Stage seven is 143km and takes the riders from Matera to Brindisi. It is the second-shortest road stage of the Corsa Rosa, with the only hill of note early on.